PRIME MINISTER Jadranka Kosor and Economy Minister Djuro Popijac met with Vladimir PutinAt last week's meeting between Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow, a political agreement was reached to start the DruzbAdria energy project. This is a project to connect the Croatian and Russian oil distribution systems that would make the town of Omisalj on the island of Krk the main Russian export port on the Mediterranean Sea. Prime Minister Kosor commented for Nacional after the close of the meeting, and confirmed that DruzbAdria was one of the top topics in the meeting. „The majority of our meeting revolved around economic cooperation, and there is no doubt that the Russian side has a strong interest in the DruzbAdria project. We are also interested in this project, though we did not enter into the project details, but only confirmed our mutual interest and created a type of political framework. I expect that we will hold much more detailed talks in September, when the meeting of the Croatian and Russian economic delegations will be held, and then the technical details of the project execution can be discussed," she stated.

The fact that the DruzbAdria project was the main topic of the one hour discussion between Putin and Kosor is no surprise, given the long-standing Russian interest in making this project a reality. Negotiations on DruzbAdria have been ongoing since 2002, though the project was on hold for years due to the unfavourable circumstances on the European oil market, and the substantial worsening of bilateral relations while Ivo Sanader was at the helm of the Croatian government.

With Kosor's arrival and important changes in the geopolitical relations in southeast Europe, the conditions for the development of new cooperation between Croatia and Russia have arisen. The result is three meetings held between Kosor and Putin in the past year, or more than Sanader held in the six years he was premier. During this past year, Croatia and Russia have reached several important agreements that could not be reached for years, the most important of which is Croatia's inclusion in the project to construct the massive South Stream oil pipeline.

The consequences of such good bilateral relations in the past year can also be seen in the fact that Putin received the Croatian premier in his private residence in the Moscow suburbs, something he rarely does when hosting foreign statesmen. Members of the Croatian diplomatic corps in Moscow interpret this fact as proof of Russia's exception interest in cooperation with Croatia at this time, and the excellent relations that Kosor has established with Putin. The same sources claim that Putin, alongside Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and French Premier Francois Fillon, could be the main guests at this year's Croatia Summit, to be held in Dubrovnik on 9 and 10 July.

Russia's interest in the DruzbAdria project can also be interpreted in the context of a recent cooling of relations between Russia and Bulgaria. Bulgaria's Prime Minister Bojko Borisov has rejected cooperation with Russia on large energy project several times in the past year, most recently last week when he declared the transport of Russian oil was detrimental to Bulgaria. In this way, Borisov virtually called off the deal to construct a large oil pipeline between the Bulgarian port of Burgas on the Black Sea and the Greek city of Alexandroupoli in the Thracian Gulf (a bay of the Aegean Sea). With the construction of this pipeline, Russia would realise its long standing goal of creating an export port on the Mediterranean Sea, so as to eliminate its dependence on tanker ships from the Black Sea port of Novorosijsk through the Bosporus Straight and Dardanela.

However, if the Burgas-Alexandropoli project should fall through, virtually the only possible option for Russia to obtain its desired port on the Mediterranean Sea is the DruzbAdria project. For this reason, it can be expected that relations between Croatia and Russia will only improve, and this interest in Croatia could lead to an improvement of economic relations with Russia in the coming years. In fact, it appears that Russia is currently willing to make significant economic concessions to Croatia. As such, Premier Kosor has announced that a new long-term gas supply contract with Russia's Gazprom is soon to be signed.

Also, Kosor has said that there is significant interest on Russia's part for tourism cooperation, and these initiatives can be expected to be realised through the branch of the Croatian Chamber of the Economy in Moscow, officially opened by Premier Kosor.